A man and woman from Romania were jailed today on charges of controlling prostitution and people trafficking.

The sentencing at Belfast Crown Court followed an international enquiry involving both the PSNI and Sweden authorities which resulted in the arrests of Ionut Ilie, 34, and his 30-year old co-accused Ancuta Schwarz.

The charges arise from the trafficking of a woman in her 20s from Romania who was forced to work in brothels in Ireland as well as Sweden.

Both Ilie, from BL 8SCA in Bucharest and Schwarz, from Karawan Strasa in Berlin, admitted a series of charges linked to the trafficking of the woman. All the charges relate to a period between February 2011 and April 2013.

The pair each admitted two charges of controlling prostitution for gain, of trafficking the woman and also of conspiring to remove criminal property. Schwarz admitted an addtitional count of removing criminal property - namely sending £4,178 to another woman in Romania via the Western Union.

Both Ilie and Schwarz were handed two-year sentences, and were informed they will serve eight months of their sentences in prison, with the remainder of the term spent on supervised licence.

During today's sentencing, it emerged that both Ilie and Schwarz have already served time in a Swedish prison on the same set of offences involving the same victim.

They have already served two years 'real time' in Sweden and prior to today's sentencing, have spent six months in custody in Northern Ireland.

During the court proceedings held in Sweden, the victim who was trafficked from her home in Romania revealed how she thought she was being brought to Ireland for legitimate work - but was in fact forced to work in brothels on both sides of the Irish border before being moved to Sweden.

Judge Kerr said that the victim in the case, as with any trafficking case, would have been subject to "humiliating and degrading behaviour."

He added: "This is a case of organised crime which involved human trafficking - something which quite clearly is capable of causing potential physical and psychological injuries to victims at a high level."

The Judge, however, accepted that in this case there was no evidence to suggest the woman was the victim of any serious violence.

Detective Chief Inspector Douglas Grant, from Serious Crime Branch, said: "This was a joint operation, codenamed Burgrave, involving the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Swedish police which investigated the activities of an Organised Crime Group suspected of involvement in controlling prostitution and human trafficking in Northern Ireland and Sweden.

"This operation has been made possible through a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) agreement between the UK and Sweden. Eurojust, the EU agency set up to promote co-ordination between member states in relation to serious and organised crime, partly funded the operation. The operation was assisted and supported by Europol. PSNI and Swedish police liaised with law enforcement authorities in Romania.

"Officers carried out an arrest and search operation in Belfast in April 2013 as a result of which 13 trafficking victims were rescued.

"Working with law enforcement colleagues in various parts of Europe, we believe we have halted the activities of an organised crime gang involved in controlling prostitution and human trafficking in Northern Ireland, Sweden and Romania.

"The Joint Investigation Team agreement between the UK and Sweden was reached with the assistance of Public Prosecution Service prosecutors and has enabled our teams of officers to secure criminal justice outcomes in separate jurisdictions.

"Police will deploy every mechanism at our disposal to ensure victims are protected and that criminals are made to pay for their crimes."